


subtle as a train

by hawksonfire



Series: Clint Barton Bingo 2019 [18]
Category: Marvel
Genre: Aw feelings no, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Budapest, Clint Barton Bingo, Established Relationship, GIVE ME ALL THE AMERIHAWK CONTENT, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, MCU Rarepairs Bingo, NOT IN THIS FIC WE WON'T, mariokart, why is Amerihawk considered a rarepair, will we ever find out what happened in Budapest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 18:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20296324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawksonfire/pseuds/hawksonfire
Summary: Steve tries to figure out what happens in Budapest, but Clint doesn't talk about Budapest. And he's certainly not going to go toNatasha.





	subtle as a train

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Clint Barton Bingo Square G5 - Budapest.  
Also written for MCU Rarepairs Bingo Square N4 - Secrets.

**Clint**

“Hey, Clint, can I talk to you?” Clint looks up, an arrowhead in his teeth, to find Steve hovering beside the couch. He nods and goes back to fiddling with his arrow. If he could just get the net to weigh a _ tiny _ bit less... “I was going through old SHIELD case files the other day, and I couldn’t access something.”

Clint spits the arrowhead onto the table. “What’re you trying to access?”

“Budapest.” Clint can feel Steve watching him carefully, but it’ll take more than that to make him react. 

“Yeah, sorry about that, pal,” he says, “Only people allowed to look at that file are me, Tasha, Fury, and Coulson.” Maybe if he makes the net smaller it’ll work?

“Why is that?” Steve asks. “I know that mission reports are restricted at the agent’s request, or if it’s a sensitive mission, but from what I can tell, Budapest wasn’t all that sensitive. So why’d you ask to have it restricted?”

Clint shrugs. Tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth, he says, “Thought it’d be amusing. Me and Tasha came back and were immediately rushed to Medical, and while we were there we came up with the idea to restrict the files to make it seem like something happened.”

“Did something happen?” Oh, Steve. Too clever for your own good.

Clint looks up and winks at the other man. “That’s for me to know, and you to never find out.”

“I’ll figure it out eventually, Clint,” Steve threatens, and he slides off the couch and settles next to Clint on the floor. “What are you working on, anyway?”

Clint leans into Steve’s bulk and holds up the arrowhead critically. “I’m trying to make the net weigh less so it cuts down on the time it takes to open.” They spend the next hour discussing tensile strength and factoring in wind speed, and by the time JARVIS tells them it’s time for dinner, Clint’s got a pretty good idea of how he can make the net perfect - and he won’t even have to remove any material.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about Budapest,” Steve says as they’re walking into the kitchen hand in hand. 

“You? Forget something?” Clint says, shocked. He puts his hand to his heart. “I would never think that.”

“Asshole,” Steve says fondly. He pulls Clint down beside him and slings an arm across his shoulders, then engages Bruce in conversation. Clint makes eye contact with Tasha when she walks in, blinks twice and coughs once, then turns back to Steve and jumps in on his conversation with Bruce - they’re arguing about whether the VitaRays in Steve’s serum affected his overall abilities, or just sped up the timeline in which he gained them. 

No one else notices Natasha slipping out of the kitchen.

~~

Clint’s not really surprised when Tony comes to see him the next day, asking about his net arrow. Clint politely turns him down when Tony offers to have JARVIS run a few simulations, and then has to struggle through an explanation about _ why _ he doesn’t let anyone else touch his arrows when Tony doesn’t let up. By the time he’s done stammering his way through _ feelings_, Tony’s backed off and apologized. He throws a parting shot about Budapest before he leaves, and Clint rolls his eyes while rubbing at an old scar on his thigh.

Tony’s sharp eyes catch the movement, as Clint knew they would.

~~

Surprisingly, Steve recruits James next. They’re playing MarioKart (and Clint is thoroughly kicking James’ ass, thank you very much) when he brings it up. “Steve’s been buggin’ me about Budapest,” he says casually, snickering when Clint swears at a red shell, “Says you had a mission there and won’t tell him what it was about.”

“File’s restricted,” Clint says shortly, distracted as Bowser passes him in the third lap. “Mine and Tasha’s eyes only.”

“You know he’s not gonna leave this alone,” James says. 

Clint hisses in victory as he passes the finish line (first place, baby!) and drops the controller into his lap with a sigh. “Course not, he’s a stubborn fucker.”

“You gonna tell him?”

Clint shrugs, smirking a little. “He’s not cleared for it.”

James snorts. “And you’re such a rule follower.”

Clint puts a hand to his chest, offended. “Barnes, I have never broken a rule in my life!”

James scoffs. “Yeah, okay, sure. Whatever you say, Clint.” He proceeds to beat Clint so soundly that Tony isn’t even mad when he rewatches the security footage to see how the TV screen got broken. 

“Yeah, I would’ve thrown the remote too,” he says, snickering as Clint pouts. 

“He cheated!” Clint complains.

“Having Steve walk around shirtless isn’t cheating,” James objects, “It’s making use of all the tools at my disposal, and Steve happens to be a pretty big tool.” Clint laughs and Steve punches James on his flesh arm, glaring at him. 

“So not cool to use my bestie against me, Steven,” Clint scolds him.

Steve shrugs. “You wouldn’t tell me anything, what was I supposed to do?”

“Bribe me with kisses,” Clint offers, shrugging. “Just a thought.”

“Would it work?”

Clint shakes his head. “Probably not,” he says, “But you could try anyway?” Steve laughs at him. (Clint was right, it doesn’t work - but he gets an hour-long make-out session on the couch out of it, so neither of them are complaining.)

~~

When Steve comes to him and tells him that the Budapest file is missing, Clint mentally adds a bottle of Tasha’s favourite vodka to his grocery list. “Did you check Records?” He asks innocently. “They might have transferred it to paper.”

“Of course I checked Records,” Steve says, irritated, “It’s not like I’m allergic to paper files, I’m not _ Tony _.”

Clint snorts. “I dunno what to tell you, Steve,” he says. “I have no idea where it could be.” Technically, not a lie. Tasha could have put it anywhere.

Steve sighs. “I’m never going to find out what happened in Budapest, am I?”

“Sorry, Steve,” Clint says, planting a kiss on Steve’s cheek, “That’s one secret I’m taking to my grave.” He yelps as Steve hauls him on top of his chest, scrambling to sit up so he doesn’t fall off. 

“I bet I could get it out of you,” Steve says thoughtfully, “If I really tried.”

“Worse men than you have tried, Steve,” Clint says, distracted by the warmth of Steve’s palms on his thighs.

“Probably,” Steve agrees, and in hindsight, that probably should have been Clint’s first sign that something was up. “But I’ve never tried, not really.”  
  
“What would you call the past week?” Clint objects.

Steve shrugs. “Casual interest.” He grabs Clint’s wrists in his hands and pins them behind his back, making Clint’s chest puff out slightly and his breath quicken. “Now I’m _ invested _.”

“Oh boy,” Clint breathes, and Steve grins up at him wickedly. 

“Oh boy indeed,” he agrees.

~~

Steve does his best to make Clint break. He breaks out his best tools - the handcuffs, the ropes, hell - he even brings out the blindfolds a couple times. By the time he’s finished, they’re both panting and sore, and Clint hasn’t told him a single thing about Budapest. “Shit, Clint,” Steve says, impressed, “You can take a lot.”

Clint can barely manage a muffled “Hrng?”, his brain still mostly offline from being overloaded. Steve wraps Clint up in his arms, holding him tightly, and after about fifteen minutes and a couple drinks of water, he’s able to form sentences again. “We should do that again sometime,” is the first thing that he says, and Steve bursts out laughing.

“Again? You haven’t even started recovering from this time!”

Clint shrugs. “True. But my point still stands.” 

Steve’s shoulders shake with laughter. “I’ll stop asking about Budapest,” he promises.

Clint sighs. “Thank you.” He hesitates, and then, “You know it’s not that I don’t trust you, right? Because I do trust you, Steve.”

Steve tilts up his chin and kisses him gently. “I know, Clint. I also know that if I was going to find out what happened in Budapest, I would have by now. So I’ll trust that you have a good reason for keeping it to yourself.”

“So you’ll stop recruiting our friends to try and weasel it out of me?” Clint says, raising an eyebrow. 

Steve blushes. “You noticed that?”

Clint snorts. “Noticed it? Babe, it was about as subtle as a brick to the face. And I would know - I’ve taken many a brick to the face.”

“Subtle... is not my strong suit,” Steve admits. 

“No,” Clint agrees, “But you’re pretty great regardless.” Steve pokes him in the side and they laugh. “Shower?” Clint asks. “I think I’ve still got wax on my ass.”

“And what an ass it is,” Steve leers at him as he hops out of bed.

Clint snorts and raises an eyebrow. “You comin’? I’ll wash your hair.” Steve practically falls out of the bed in his attempt to race to the washroom (his love of having his hair washed is adorable) and Clint laughs at him. As he’s washing Steve’s hair while they’re in the shower, he thinks. 

Maybe, one day, he can tell Steve about Budapest. He’d have to talk to Tasha first, obviously - he’s in love, not stupid - but yeah. One day. 

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on the [ tweets](https://twitter.com/candycanedarcy)
> 
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